City of Calgary and Tsuut’ina Nation sign agreement for 9-1-1 services

The City of Calgary and the Tsuut’ina Nation held a signing ceremony to mark the agreement for Calgary 9-1-1 to deliver services to Nation residents. The agreement includes evaluating calls for the appropriate service response, transferring calls for police or ambulance to the appropriate agency and providing dispatch services to the Tsuut’ina Nation Fire Department.

"Tsuut'ina is pleased to be working with Calgary and the region on emergency response. This agreement is an important step towards integrating physical infrastructure and human resources in our shared environment," says Chief Lee Crowchild, Tsuut’ina Nation.

Not only will Calgary 9-1-1 be providing a valuable and life-saving service to Tsuut’ina residents by responding to emergency calls, they will also answer a multitude of non-emergency calls such as citizen inquiries, notifications from alarm companies when servicing alarms and addressing inquiries from fire department employees.

Calgary 9-1-1 dispatchers will monitor the safety and security of firefighters for both emergency and non-emergency response. They will also act as an information hub by receiving notifications from multiple sources and sharing information with the fire department.

“This agreement is not just about securing 9-1-1 services for Tsuut’ina residents,” says Deputy Mayor Ward Sutherland, who spoke at the event.” It is part of how The City is striving to learn from, and work with our neigbouring Indigenous communities in the spirit of reconciliation. It is also part of The City’s commitment to building an equitable and inclusive relationship with Indigenous people who live in and around Calgary.”

Calgary 9-1-1 began delivering services to Tsuut’ina Nation on January 3, 2018. Since services began, The City has answered 32 emergency calls.